


knock knock (who's there)

by cngkyns



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 04:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12100293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cngkyns/pseuds/cngkyns
Summary: Minhyuk spends his Halloween in a haunted house with two eight-year-olds and a crush from university. What could go wrong?





	knock knock (who's there)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [midnightghostwriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightghostwriter/gifts).



> first of all!! this is my first fic ex and everything was in a mess, i apologize in advance ;m; i hope i satisfied your prompt!

 

"Hyun-Hyunwoo..."

 

Minhyuk receives a grunt a few feet away from him. His flashlight shakes in his trembling hands, the light flickering from the cracked walls of the corridor, to the moist spot on the floor, and then to Hyunwoo's dirtied sneakers scuffing the ground. The air around them is musty and stale, a mix between sweat and mold fusing themselves together and sticking onto their clothes. Minhyuk wants to wrap his arms around the broad back ahead of him for protection (and the fact that Hyunwoo always looks cuddly- meaty enough to be used as a pillow), but he keeps his hands to himself because this is the first time they've actually talked to each other.

 

And Minhyuk is scared shitless.

 

 

 

In the month of October, the nights begin to grow long and cozy, the temperatures drop to a chilly, sweater-weather level, the trees around Minhyuk's neighbourhood darken into warm oranges, browns and golds and everyone craves for a cup of warm coffee in their hands. With every day that passes, more pumpkins, spiders, witches and cobwebs appear- from the windows of the grand bookshop a few blocks down from his house, to the house of the nice old lady down the street, to the pumpkin baked goods and cakes that decorate the shelves of the nearby bakery. There's already a strong festive vibe for Halloween sticking in the air, of sweet-spicy cocoa drinks and crunchy leaves crinkling under people's feet, and everyone is jittery with the promises of costume parties and trick-or-treating. 

 

As with any other Saturdays, Minhyuk would rather spend the rest of his day curled up under warm, thick sheets, clutching his phone in one hand and a bag of chips in the other. University life was hard, what with the workload, activities and social life, while on the days he had no classes, he had hours in the cafe to work for as a barista. His daily routine sucks out all of his breath and all he really wants is rest- but today isn't the day.

 

Instead of being curled under his thick blanket, the elder finds himself almost tripping over the cracks in the pavement at the speed his little brother, Minhyun, is going, almost knocking against a handful of strangers on their way to the costume shop. His little brother grips the ends of his finger with a vice-like grip, as if afraid his older brother would slip away from him anytime. 

 

"Minhyun-ah," Minhyuk calls out, his voice blown towards his face by the wind. His brother takes a sharp turn to the right and Minhyuk only had seconds to avoid a collision with a neighbour's gates. "Slow down, please. You're walking- excuse me!- you're walking too fast."

 

"Hyung is just walking too slow," his little brother calls out with a jut of his lip. He grips his older brother's hand harder and quickens their pace, now running. "Come on!" 

 

The elder isn't really sure why his brother is so desperate, but he's the older one and he has to cooperate, so he simply nods breathlessly. 

 

By the time they reached the shop, decorated with pumpkins and black robes, zombies and mummies, Minhyun releases his brother's hand and rushes to enter inside, leaving his older brother panting outside the door. Minhyuk leans on one palm against the wall of the shop to catch his breath- oh, wait, a floating skeleton covered in black cloth is hanging there, and his hand went right through the robe _what the fuc-_

"Oh, hey. Minhyuk?" 

 

The boy clamps his mouth shut right before he screams. 

 

"Minhyuk, right?" 

 

Minhyuk turns his head slowly to the source of the familiar voice. Dread dooms on him. Who could it be-?

 

As he turns around, he comes face to face with round eyes, a cute, pursed smile, and broad, broad shoulders looming over him.

 

"Oh! Hyunwoo. Hey." He scrambles up and straightens his back, trying to look as if he was chilling by a random skeleton outside a costume shop, and gives him a charming half-smile. "Nice seeing you! What're you doing here?" He gives his classmate a once over, then quirks an eyebrow in a friendly manner. "Cool sweater."

 

Hyunwoo shrugs, wrapped in an _adorablefluffysweet_ chocolate sweater and a gray scarf on his neck, his eyes scrunching up as he returns Minhyuk's smile with his own. He glances at his sweater with a proud smile. "Thanks. It's really warm for this kind of weather," he replies. "And I work over there-" he points to a coffee shop a few meters away- "during the holidays. A pretty cozy place. It's just a small job so I have something to do. What about you?"

 

"I'm, uh," Minhyuk scratches the back of his neck and glances at the costume shop. His brother is nowhere to be found. "I'm actually accompanying my little brother right now," he says. "He's here to buy a costume for trick-or-treating even though it's, like, only a week into October. I have no idea why we're here, really."

 

Hyunwoo chuckles. "Already feeling the Halloween vibes, huh?" 

 

Minhyuk nods. "Yeah." He tucks a hand into his pockets and shrugs. "Not particularly feeling it myself, though."

 

"Why?" His, uh, classmate tilts his head to the left. Some of his bangs follow the movement, falling slightly to his left. Shit. Hyunwoo looks like a total puppy right now. Minhyuk swallows his thoughts.

 

"Just, you know-" he gestures vague shapes in the air- "post exam mood and all. I'd rather just sleep twenty-five hours straight than go out and do anything."

 

Hyunwoo's eyes crinkle into a smooth chuckle. "I get that. All those exams really drained us out."

 

"Yeah," Minhyuk affirms. A momentary silence falls upon both of them, where Hyunwoo, satisfied with his answer, stares off into the distance behind him, and Minhyuk keeps his eyes on the ground. No, he shouldn't stare at the broad shoulders and the thick arms, nor should he notice the pouty lips and the fluffy outfit Hyunwoo is wearing. What can he say? What else can he talk about? 

 

He opens his mouth. "So, you live aro-"

 

The door of the shop flies open and Minhyun's tuft of brown hair peeks out. A skinny arm shoves a dark robe through the opening of the door. "Hyung! I wanna buy this one!"

 

Hyunwoo and Minhyuk jump in place. The eight-year-old boy rushes out of the shop and stuffs the costume into his brother's hand. "Hyung, this one. Come on and pay." He tugs his brother's sleeve towards the shop, but his brother doesn't move. 

 

Minhyuk grits his teeth. "Can't you see that I'm talking to someone?" He yanks his hand out of Minhyun's grasp. "Stop being so rude, brat." 

 

His little brother glowers at him. "You said you wanted to go home! If we pay for this faster, we can get home faster." He latches his hand onto Minhyuk's sleeve yet again. 

 

Hyunwoo chuckles in the background. He pats Minhyuk's left shoulder, causing the other boy to turn to him. "What he says is right. And, um, if you'll excuse me, it's actually time for my shift right now, so I'll get going. See you around?" 

 

Minhyuk's heart falls. He musters a friendly smile, squeezing his eyes into a hopefully-cute eye smile, and raises a hand. "Sure! See you!" 

 

The moment Hyunwoo's shoulder brushes past his, Minhyun yanks his hand and leads him inside the costume shop. 

 

 

 

 

Three weeks pass and Minhyuk finds himself back in his house on a Friday night, head stuffed between two pillows and snuggled under thick sheets, as he tries to block out his brother's excited shouts next door. It was a night before Halloween, and his whole neighbourhood is alive with the spooky, festive vibes that arrive with the date; like the other houses, his house was finally decorated with orange and black stripes, cotton cobwebs, and a skeleton chilling by the porch with an empty cup in its hands. Children outside have already begun planning their trick-or-treats, some putting on a "scary" act whilst others were walking in groups, hand in hand. Some more were picking out the best hiding spots for pranks, and the rest- including Minhyun- were choosing the best houses for an annual great spook.  

 

Minhyuk can still hear his brother and his best friend shouting in the neighbouring room, words like  _demon mask_ and  _haunted rooms_ filtering through the walls. He groans, his voice muffled into his pillow. Not again. 

_In eight minutes and thirty seconds,_  Minhyuk thinks, _Minhyun's going to barge in my room and announce the house for his Scare Walk. In eight minutes and twenty-two seconds, Minhyun will plead me to follow him to his Scare Walk. In eight minutes and-_

The door to his room bangs open, and Minhyuk flinches in his sheets. Well. His brother came earlier than expected. 

 

Minhyun, dressed in a black, mismatched Grim Reaper robe and a red demon mask, marches into his room with Taeyoon, one of his best friends, tagging along. In five exact steps- Minhyuk counts this in his head- they stand upright, hands on their hips, and a demanding upward tilt of their chin in front of his bed. 

 

"What do you want," he deadpans. Some of the aggression in his voice was absorbed by his pillow. 

 

"Tomorrow night," Minhyun states. "Scare Walk." 

 

"What about it?"

 

"Follow us." 

 

Taejoon bobs his head enthusiastically. 

 

Minhyuk sighs, burying his head deeper into the crevices of his fluffy pillow. Of course, of course. He couldn't even think of refusing, because his mother would give him an earful of _irresponsible brother!_  and he wouldn't be able to sleep in as much as he can. 

 

"Where's the place?" 

 

Minhyun sticks his arm to the left. "There! To the Grey Lady House near Aunt Hana's place!" 

 

Taejoon bobs his head again. 

 

"The Grey Lady House?" Minhyuk asks. He pushes himself onto his elbow, sitting a little upright than before, an eyebrow quirked up. His quilt falls off his torso and slides onto the bed, attacking him with sudden cold air. "The one near the opposite gates of the neighborhood?" 

 

"Yeah!" 

 

"The big and scary one?" 

 

"Yeah!"

 

"With the cracked windows and the creaking doors?" 

 

"Yeah!" 

 

"And haunted?" 

 

Taejoon frowns. "No, not haunted." 

 

Minhyun shakes his head with vigour. "Not haunted at all! It's only fake news anyway!" He sticks out his chest and places his hands on his hips once more, resuming the demanding pose from three minutes ago. "We know it's all fake! We're gonna show everyone that the Grey Aunt is not real!"

 

Minhyuk chokes on air. "What? Are you sure?"

 

His little brother rolls his eyes. "Duh!"

 

"What if you meet the Grey Aunt?" 

 

"We won't! She's not real, anyway." Minhyun tosses his head with the haughty flair of a princess. "And- and if we did, we're big boys. We won't get scared." 

 

His older brother smirks. How naive. He'll have to see for himself tomorrow. "Well, assuming she was real, and that you guys meet her, what will you do?" Minhyuk presses on. 

 

Taejoon's eyes widen. "What will we do?" he echoes. It seemed like the idea never passed through their heads before. His friend shrugs his shoulders in a dismissive manner. 

 

"I don't know. Isn't that why hyung is following us?" 

 

Minhyuk grumbles under his breath, resigned. "Alright! Alright. But if the Grey Aunt turns out to be real, you know who's responsible." 

 

His little brother scrunches his nose and sticks his tongue out. "Fine then. I'll prove it to you too, hyung! I'll prove that she's not real" With that, he grabs Taejoon's wrist and drags him out of the bedroom, much to his older brother's relief.

 

As he flips onto his back, yanking up the quilt to his nose, Minhyuk tries to settle into his bed more. He doesn't have a good feeling for tomorrow. The Grey Lady? The Grey's Lady's House? That's where an angry lady-spirit lives. Where it's rumoured that a heartbroken mother took her own life after losing custody on her only child to her husband. A typical story. Like those horror webcomics he sometimes read at night, where a distraught lady-spirit roamed on the streets of Seoul, or the ugly monster-thing on the midnight bus. Well. Local urban legends like these don't usually exist, but they often come from a basis of truth, which gets stretched and twisted until the legend, completely different from the original story, forms. Minhyuk knows that. Even if the legend was widespread in their neighbourhood. Even if there were multiple sightings from all sorts of neighbours- the uncles and aunts 'til the young children to run around the streets. A legend is a legend after all. So, he supposes, the Scare Walk tomorrow would go well. Maybe.

 

He crosses his fingers.  

 

 

 

On the final day itself, whilst waiting for Minhyun and Taejoon to leave the house, Minhyuk plays with his phone by the porch outside. Ignoring the excited screams and chatter of the neighbourhood's children, he mindlessly scrolls through his Instagram feed, absorbing post after post without much attention. Some of his friends posted pictures of their own adventures, like Hyungwon's.  _Halloween party at the nearby club!_ , Hyungwon's caption says, following a picture of his university squad holding up soju bottles while dressed as various characters. Hyungwon himself was a classy pirate, his soju bottle somehow hanging off a plastic hook. Around him were his friends- Changkyun in a homemade robot costume, complete with a pair of glasses made of CDs; Jooheon as a butler _(probably from Kuroshitsuji,_ Minhyuk thinks); Gunhee donned in some spacesuit, and even a cowboy Yoonho, who attends a different university. All of them wore shit-eating grins.

 

Yet here he was, leaning against the door to his house, clad in a worn hoodie, a face mask, and stained sneakers on his feet. A torchlight dangles from his left wrist _for emergency purposes_ , and tonight he was in for hours' worth of babysitting. Minhyuk scowls in jealousy. _Lucky bastards_ , he scoffs to himself. None of them were stuck looking after a pair of spoiled eight-year-old boys. 

 

The entrance door bursts open. A mini Grim-Reaper-slash-demon Minhyun appears, clutching his plastic scythe by his side, along with Taejoon, who transformed into a tiny, innocent version of Count Dracula. They walk out with a proud bounce in their steps, causing Taejoon's gelled hair to dance to their footsteps as well. Minhyuk turns his face away from the duo. 

 

He hides a smile threatening to form on his face. They were admittedly cute. 

 

A tug on the hem of his shirt brings his attention to the small monsters standing before him. Minhyun already has a frown on his face. "Hyung, why aren't we going yet?" his brother asks with a pout.

 

Minhyuk's smile slides off at once. "Alright, alright." He stands upright, brushing away nonexistent dust off his clothes, and pockets his phone. "Lead the way, young ones." 

 

The two eight-year-olds hop off the steps with light feet, crunching the leaves beneath their shoes. Fellow children were roaming around everywhere in the neighbourhood, carrying the occasional Jack-O'-Lantern, or torchlights, or clasping their capes in their hands so it wouldn't fly off in the chilly autumn wind. Laughter was high in the air. All the houses in block were lit brightly, accompanying the dim streetlights that shone on the pavements. Some teenagers walked around as well, side by side with their younger siblings or fellow friends, laughing and goofing in their costumes. Minhyuk is probably the only university student on the streets right now, surrounded by those younger than him. He tucks his chin into his turtleneck sweater. 

 

Ahead of him, Minhyun and Taejoon walk with springy footsteps, their hands swinging their empty plastic candy-buckets up and down. They walk into the far northwest direction of their neighbourhood, the pavement guiding them to the rumoured haunted house. Minhyuk tugs sweater across his torso to protect himself from the wind. The night chill settles into his bones.

 

As they walk, they pass rows and rows of houses, as well as a few playgrounds scattered around the area. The more time passes, Minhyuk noticed, the less children were on the streets; the avid voices were quickly left behind on their own block while they neared the haunted house, and not a single soul was spotted on the sidewalks. One reassuring thing though, that Minhyuk clung onto, was that the houses on this block were still alight- maybe not as many houses as the previous blocks. At least there might be people inside who can help them if ever they came into danger. 

 

Right as his little brother and his friend disappeared from the light of the streetlamp, a dark figure stepped in front of the two little boys. Minhyun dropped his beach bucket with a hollow thud and Taejoon screams in a high-pitched voice, falling on the ground. 

 

Oh no. The college student pauses in his tracks. Without the help of the light, he couldn't find them. Where were the boys? 

 

"Get away from me!" Minhyun shrieks. He brandishes his plastic scythe in all directions, attempting some sort of self-defense. "Get away from me!" 

 

In the background, Taejoon's screams died into terrified sobs.

 

Minhyuk dashes forward. Shit shit shit. Pedophile? Kidnapper? Robber?

 

He steps in front of Minhyun, nudging his little brother back, and spreads his arms wide. "Whoever the hell you are, stay _away_  from these kids, or I'll fucking sock y-"

 

A voice speaks out from the black shadow. "Minhyuk?" 

 

He freezes. Minhyun scrambles off the ground to cling at his pants, tight fists balling up the fabric. Behind him, Taejoon grabs his beach bucket to shield himself from the dark figure. Minhyuk's mouth stays open, his brain short-circuiting at that familiar voice- he swears he heard it a few days ago-

 

"I'm Hyunwoo. Can you see me?" The dark figure, rising to his feet, waves a hand in front of his face. Minhyuk blinks, his eyes adjusting to the lack of light in the space, and then his university friend- no, crush- forms in front of him. 

 

_Oh._  His arm hairs stand on ends in embarrassment. Oh no no no. 

 

His arms drop to his sides. "Hyunwoo! Hey. Hey. Nice, uh, seeing you again." 

 

Minhyun's fists curl into his pants. "Hyunwoo?" 

 

His older brother looks down on him. "Yeah. It's my friend from university, Hyunwoo-hyung. Don't be afraid of him, he's really nice." 

 

Taejoon shakes his head in disbelief, while Minhyun stares daggers into the taller man. "Hyunwoo-hyung?" he repeats.

 

Said man curls his eyes up into a smile. "Hello. You must be Minhyuk's brother, right?" He brushes off some parts of his clothes where the plastic scythe hit. "You're pretty strong." 

 

"Right, right, I'm so sorry about that," Minhyuk apologizes profusely. "He was a little... scared." His hands reach out to awkwardly pat his body in his apology, but he accidentally pats his toned chest and neck. He yanks his hand away. Oops.

 

Hyunwoo chuckles. "It's alright. Nothing I can't handle." Then he bends down to meet Minhyun's eyes, offering a hand as a peace treaty. "Sorry about that, little guy. I didn't mean to scare you or your friend there." 

 

The eight-year-old boy stares at him with fierce eyes, giving him a quick once-over before passing on judgement. Despite the buff shoulders and arms, the man in front of him acted pretty much harmless; no weird looking smirks or creepy touches, nothing that his parents taught him from Stranger Danger. Minhyun releases his hold on his brother's pants and holds one hand up towards the man. "You're forgiven." 

 

The man's eyes curl up once more. "Thank you. I'm glad." They share a brief handshake, before Hyunwoo peeks over the boy's head and observes his friend a few steps behind. "How about your friend there? Does he forgive me, too?"

 

Taejoon, frozen in his place, gives a hurried nod. "Y-yes." 

 

Hyunwoo smiles. "That's great. I'm happy now." He stuffs his hand back into his pockets and huffs, the air coming out as a faint fog. Minhyuk stares in awe. Never had he seen a cloud of breath so pretty and delicate from a man like him.

 

They stand in their positions for a few more seconds, Minhyuk at a loss for words while Hyunwoo waits- for what, he wasn't sure either. A conversation, he supposes, now that he met his university friend once more. The two little boys huddle behind Minhyuk, Taejoon handing over the plastic bucket to his friend, while his friend stares up at the older men. 

 

"Hyung," Minhyun says, breaking the lull in conversation. "Hyung, we're supposed to go to the Grey Lady House! Hurry!" He tugs on his older brother's pants. Minhyuk flinches. 

 

"A-ah, right, I forgot. Yeah." He shakes his head. "Let's go. Hyunwoo-hyung, sorry-"

 

"Grey Lady House?" Hyunwoo perks up. 

 

Minhyun and Taejoon look up at the muscular man in unison. A spark of interest glints in both their eyes as they bob their heads in enthusiasm. "Yeah! The Grey Lady House!" Taejoon chirps. He bounds to Hyunwoo's feet. "Do you know it?"

 

The muscular man smiles at them. "Of course! It's the famous haunted house in this area, isn't it?"

 

"No! Not haunted!" Minhyun shakes his head, trailing after Taejoon's lead. "Not haunted at all! We're big boys and we're going to prove she's not real!"

 

Hyunwoo raises his eyebrows. "Ah, really? That's interesting... Are you sure she's not real?" 

 

"Nope!" Both of them chirp. "She's a ghost! Ghosts aren't real!" 

 

"Or scary!"

 

"And we're gonna prove it to everyone!" Minhyun makes a large, circular motion with both of his hands to signify the entire population of their neighbourhood. "Because we're big boys!" 

 

Minhyun places a hand on his brother's head. "That's enough now, we have a few hours left. Don't you want to finish the Scare Walk?"

 

The two eight-year-old boys gasp. "Yeah!" Taejoon agrees. "The Scare Walk!"

 

"Scare Walk?" Hyunwoo asks. "What's that?" 

 

Minhyuk waves a hand in the air dismissively. "Just- it's their Halloween thing they do every year. They walk to someplace scary and I babysit them on the way..." He shrugs, as if to say it wasn't a big deal. 

 

His crush smiles in amusement. "That's cool. I, uh-" Hyunwoo glances around the neighborhood, then peeks at his watch, "I have nothing to do and all, so mind if I join you? If I'm not intruding or anything, I mean," he adds.  

 

Whoa. Minhyuk blinks. That was... very sudden. His crush stares back at him with expectant eyes, tilting his head to the side while he waits for an answer. Taejoon and Minhyun are the first to speak up. 

 

"Okay!" they chorus. Taejoon already seems to like Hyunwoo, because now he clings onto the latter's pants with tight fists and looking up to him with excited eyes. "Hyungnim will have fun! Scare Walks are fun!" 

 

Minhyun nods vigorously. "Come follow Minhyuk-hyung! Then maybe he won't complain so much." 

 

Hyunwoo chuckles. Minhyuk cuffs his brother on the back of his head. 

 

 

 

By the time they've reached the Grey Lady House, the two eight-year-olds bound off into the unknown depths of the house after Minhyuk pats them both on the head. "Stay safe," he told them, reminding them to stay near windows, where they can be seen, and scream loudly as they can  if anything happens. Then, the large, wooden door creaks open when they pull it open, before the thuds of excited footsteps echo and the boys disappear. 

 

That leaves behind the two university students hanging by the porch of the house. Minhyuk pretends to wait for the footsteps to quieten down, facing his body away from Hyunwoo, because he doesn't know what they're supposed to say? They've spoken more in the past three weeks than the two years they've known each other from university? And he still doesn't know anything much about Hyunwoo, save for the fact that the latter was in a dance crew, had no siblings, and majored in business management. 

 

"Exciting, huh," Minhyuk muses. His crush blinks. 

 

"Oh- yeah, I guess. It was a fun walk."

 

He giggles. "Are you sure about that? The Scare Walk hasn't even started yet." Gesturing to the direction of the door, he adds, "Now it has begun. All we have to do is wait for thirty minutes or so." 

 

"Ah." Hyunwoo scratches the nape of his neck. "You do this every year?"

 

"Yup. My duty being the older brother and all that." Minhyuk switches his gaze from the road to Hyunwoo, raising a curious eyebrow while he does. "What about you? What do you do during this time of the year?" 

 

His crush shrugs. "I don't do anything. Just- whatever I have to do, like if I have an assignment to finish or a performance to do or something. If not, I'll probably... stay at home." 

 

"I see. I wish I could do that." Minhyuk puffs out his cheeks. "It's not fun being the older brother of a kid ten years younger than you." 

 

Hyunwoo chuckles, eyes scrunching up into his adorable eye smile yet again. "Really? I wish I could have a sibling. It's lonely being the only child, sometimes, and siblings look fun."

 

Minhyuk shakes his head. "Oh no, don't get it wrong, siblings are _not_  fun at all. But, y'know, if you really want one, we can trade houses for a day." Another round of chuckles burst. 

 

As the dialogue dissipates, they stare at each other for a second or two, before their gazes avert. Hyunwoo rubs his arms. Minhyuk fakes a cough, hiding a smile behind his fist; butterflies swim in his stomach and his heart beats a deafening rhythm in his ears, because this is... the second time they've talked properly, and even though it's empty talk, Minhyuk feels themselves bonding. Sort of. Progress is progress, even if it was small. 

 

He opens his mouth again, ready to start a new topic, but then a piercing scream in the house cuts any words from his throat. Hyunwoo jumps.

 

They turn towards the large door of the house. Minhyuk swallows audibly. 

 

"What... was that?" 

 

 

 

 

"This was not a good idea. This was not a good idea at all." 

 

Minhyuk mutters prayers under his breath, his flashlight shaky in his trembling hands as he inches forward, step by step, behind Hyunwoo's heels. The more rooms they enter, the less they can hear of the outside world, much as if they're being swallowed into a new dimension. No light. No sound. Less air. Where were the boys? 

 

"Minhyuk?" Hyunwoo asks, face cast over his shoulder. The other snaps to attention. 

 

"Yeah?"

 

He shines the beam from the torchlight onto a hole in the wall. Bits of plaster and clouds of whitewash cover the edge of the hole, with parts of the wall piled underneath it. The light reaches a few meters into the other side of the hole, where- when Hyunwoo directs it inside the hole- nothing could be seen. On the floors ahead of the light beam, the dust forms footsteps that trail deeper into the unknown. Minhyuk gulps. 

 

His crush stares into the nothingness for a few seconds. "Do you think they could've gone here?" 

 

He swallows. "I- uh, I don't know, and at this point I'd really rather not know-" 

 

Hyunwoo crouches under the whole and duck-walks inside. "Come on. I have a feeling they did." 

 

"Shit- wait, Hyunwoo, don't leave me be-"

 

He extends a hand through the hole. "Come on. You'll be fine. There's, uh," Hyunwoo swivels around to shine the torchlight behind him, and Minhyuk nearly pisses his pants when the light is no longer in his view, "there's nothing here. Really. It's all empty space." 

 

"Okay." He takes a deep breath, then coughs, because the place was dusty as all hell. "Okay then." Taking up Hyunwoo's hand, he kneels on the ground and crawls beneath the hole, his back brushing against the plaster. Hyunwoo shifts a little to accommodate his form. 

 

_Hyung!_  a high-pitched voice travels from somewhere in the house. Minhyuk jumps in place, elbows jabbing Hyunwoo's side. The voice seems to have traveled from the direction of the room. _Minhyuk-hyung!_  

 

He whimpers. It sounds a lot like Taejoon. What about his own little brother? 

 

Hyunwoo stands up with much force. "I think it's him. Let's follow the sound," he declares. "Need any help standing up?" 

 

Minhyuk shakes his head. Nope, he's been depending on the dude too much in the past three hours. "I'm okay. Let's go." He pushes himself off the floor, shuddering when his hand touches the dust, and then lines himself up behind his crush. He grips the latter's shirt for extra measures. "Lead the way, please." 

 

Keeping his eyes on the ground, Minhyuk trails behind Hyunwoo's footsteps with baby steps. He doesn't dare look up at his surroundings in case anything manifests itself; perhaps long, black hair falling from the ceiling, like the horror games he plays, or a large hand creeping out from the next doorway. Nope nope nope. Not thinking about it. He scrunches his eyes closed. 

 

Ahead of him, Hyunwoo tours through the place with relaxed steps. Cupping one side of his mouth with his free hand, he calls out "Minhyun-ah! Taejoon-ah!" His voice rings down the desolate space, bouncing off the surfaces and returning to them in quieter tones. The echoes take a while to return; Minhyuk calculates the time taken for it to ring back to him and sends a quick thanks to the heavens in the sky. Just as Hyunwoo told him, the area they were in had nothing at all. 

 

_Hyung!_

He yelps. That voice resembled his little brother's. It came from somewhere...

 

Hyunwoo shines the beam of light into yet another corridor. "Here?" 

 

Minhyuk nods. "Yeah, I think so." 

 

Together, the two steps into the new corridor where the voice came from. At the end of it was a small but definite light- a lamp, perhaps, or a window on the other side- and neither was appealing to him. Who knows what would appear at the window? And if it was a light, what if something was in front of it? Why was there a light? Was it there to show that there was a door? Like in games?

 

Before he knew it, Hyunwoo already brought them into the other side of the corridor and was placing a hand onto an unseen door handle, applying a miniscule force on it. The click of the door handle as it unlocks echoes throughout all the empty space, the sound bouncing off the walls, floors and ceiling. Minhyuk's arm hairs stand on its end. 

 

The door unlocks. 

 

A barrage of hands tumble into their bodies. 

 

Minhyuk screams. 

 

A familiar tuft of black hair and the waft of lemon-scented soap appeared before them, covered beneath an unseen robe. "Hyungs!" Minhyun shrieks. "Hyungs!" He runs straight into the arms of the university students, tumbling over Minhyuk's fallen body and latching onto his torso. "She took Taejoon!"

 

What?

 

Minhyun's voice goes higher and higher as he wails, the sound bouncing off the surfaces more. "She took Taejoon! The Grey Lady! I saw her!" 

 

"The Grey Lady?" Hyunwoo pipes up behind them. Minhyuk flinches. When did he get there? 

 

A pair of strong arms lifted him by his armpits and held him steady on his feet. Minhyuk staggers up, heart beating fast in his ears- was it because of his brother's screaming or Hyunwoo's hands?- and clasps his shaken little brother. 

 

"Grey Lady took him," Minhyun repeats. When his older brother cups his cheeks, tear stains came off his face. "The Grey Lady took him!"

 

Minhyuk kneels on the ground so he's eye level with his brother, rubbing comforting circles on his little brother's back, talking in low, soothing tones to calm both his brother and himself. "Minhyun, please stop crying. Hyung can't understand what you're saying. Can you tell me clearly, please?" 

 

"Taejoon was taken! By the Grey Lady!" his brother repeats. 

 

"Where was he? Where did you guys go?"

 

"We were there!" Minhyun points to the direction of the room beyond them, the darkness swallowing up whatever light fell inside, and sniffs. "Taejoon said he saw something, then he tripped on the floor, then his knee started bleeding, so we called hyungs, but then when I found the door he disappeared! He was right behind me!"

 

Oh no. No no no no. Taejoon was under his care for the night, meaning that if he came back home bleeding, the blame would be on Minhyuk and his mother would restrict his sleeping-in-on-weekends-time yet again. "He was- he was bleeding?" he manages to ask. "How did you know?"

 

"Because I touched it!" 

 

"Are- are you sure it's not water or something?"

 

"No! I saw the Grey Lady and she had blood all over her hands! It must be because of her!"

 

Minhyuk feels his knees weaken, turning into jelly. "The-the Grey..."

 

"Guys?" Hyunwoo pipes up once again. This time, he was somewhere inside the room beyond them, casually searching the darkness with a single beam of light, which shone on a patch of empty wall. He shines the light on the other spots of the room as well, where an open, empty wardrobe stood, and then upon a dirty, grayed mirror, the light bouncing back into their faces. "I don't think he's here." 

 

Minhyuk's eyes widened. 

 

Minhyun cries. 

 

 

 

It's been twenty-five minutes. Twenty-five minutes of exploring the house with Hyunwoo in the lead, with Minhyun in tow and Minhyuk taking up the rear. So far, they've magically covered the second floor of the house- "I swear, it looked bigger from the outside," Hyunwoo muses when they reached a dead end of the corridor- and were now climbing down the stairs, step by step. In the living room of the house, bare and dusty like the rest of it, wind enters through the windows lining the walls, causing the curtains to flutter and an eerie whistling sound enter the room. Minhyuk shivers. 

 

"Say, it's cold here, isn't it?" he asks. 

 

Hyunwoo hums. "It is. What time is it now?" 

 

"About nine thirty. We really need to find him soon," Minhyuk adds. Having spent the past hour being scared out of his wits, he only had enough energy to follow wherever he was being led to and shut his eyes. If something was to take him right there, so be it. "I really hope he's somewhere here." 

 

His little brother whimpers. 

 

Hyunwoo walks them in a squiggly line throughout the living room, his pace slow amd steady. Even when Minhyun whimpers and Minhyuk drags their pace, he continues to search, his beam of light flitting every so often from one object to another. The house was silent, devoid of objects and furniture, and the walls were hollow- probably made from plaster, judging by the hole that he found an hour earlier. How can a little boy hide so well, without any footsteps or clues whatsoever? And anyway, was the Grey Lady actually there?

 

Taking a pause to focus, Hyunwoo sharpens his senses; he blinks, inhales, and exhales. There has to be another explanation of why and how, according to Minhyun, Taejoon disappeared into thin air right as the Grey Lady manifested herself. If only he could get clues that would point him to it, even if it means meeting the Grey Lady right there and then. There was a poor kid at stake here.

 

Meanwhile, from the corner of his eyes, Minhyuk glimpses a lump by the corner of the floor a few feet away from them, right next to a doorway. With several shades of darkness merged in the room, he couldn't see any more details, but he dismissed it as a trick of his eyes. Too much darkness wasn't doing good to his vision; it could have been some shadow of a sort, or he saw the light wrong, plus sleepiness was clouding his mind. That was probably nothing. 

 

Stifling a yawn, he lets go of Minhyun's right shoulder for a second, his yawn cutting the silence. 

 

A hand grabs at his ankles. 

 

He shrieks. 

 

Minhyun and Hyunwoo whip around, eyes widened and senses heightened. "H-hyung?" his little brother whimpers. 

 

Minhyuk kicks at the fingers wrapping his ankles fast, losing his balance and falling backwards on the floor. "There's a hand! Get it off me!"

 

"It's me!" A familiar voice shouts.

 

"Get off me!"  

 

Hyunwoo hurries towards him and directs his torchlight to the area by Minhyuk's feet, shining upon a small lump of body sprawled on the floor. He crouches down first, hooking his hands beneath Minhyuk's armpits and helping him up. The latter staggers a bit, stepping on one of Hyunwoo's toes, and clutches onto his shoulders for balance. When the light is back on the small body, Minhyun is already by its side, assisting the body to sit up. 

 

A friendly face comes to light, wincing at the bright torchlight, cheeks stained by dust and tears. Minhyuk narrows his eyes.

 

"Taejoon?"

 

"Hyungs!" he cries. Minhyun envelops him with a crushing hug, shoulders shaking while he sobs into his best friend's shoulders. 

 

"Where were you!" he yells into his best friend's ear. "Where did you go!" 

 

Taejoon doesn't answer as louder sobs escape from his throat. Hyunwoo separates himself from Minhyuk- much to the latter's disappointment; he was already accustomed to the comfortable warmth from behind- to kneel before the two young boys, arms spread out in a silent invitation for a hug. Taejoon falls into his arms first. Minhyun, after a moment's hesitation, follows suit. 

 

Minhyuk is frozen in his place. There is a _lot_  to process amidst all the crying. 

 

Five minutes pass before Taejoon releases himself from the university student's hug. He sits back on his knees, wiping away the tear tracks off his face with his costume. Minhyuk notices the minor cuts hidden amongst the stains on the boy's face: one on his cheek, another near his chin, and an almost invisible cut on his eyelid. He squints.

 

On closer inspection, some of the stains on the boy's face that he assumed was dust looked red... seemed a little bit like dried blood? 

 

Was Minhyun right, after all, about the Grey Lady?

 

Swallowing dry, he reaches out to the boy, cradles his face gently in his hands until the boy was looking back at him. "Taejoon-ah," he asks with a soft voice, in hopes of not riling the boy once more, "can you tell us what happened? Why are there cuts on your face?" 

 

"Cuts?" Hyunwoo repeats. 

 

The boy's eyes widened. He shakes his head, unwilling to say anything. 

 

"Do you want to talk about it?" 

 

He shakes his head again. This time, when he says, "No," it's with a much quieter voice. "Nothing happened."

 

The group falls silent, the air shifting into an unknown, uncomfortable vibe. Minhyun tilts his head in curiousity. 

 

"Let's get out of here soon. Please, hyungs?" 

 

Minhyuk blinks. Taejoon's quiet plea digs the uncomfortable tension deeper into his skin- was something wrong? Is he paranoid? 

 

Hyunwoo, ever the sensible one, stands to his feet and offers a hand to the two boys. He pulls them up, dusting off anything on their clothes and pats their head. "Let's get out, yeah?" 

 

The rest of the way home, Taejoon clings onto Hyunwoo's hand tightly and kept on sending glances over his shoulder, as if afraid something else will take him away. 

 

(Minhyuk thinks it's cute, though.)

 

 

 

A week after the Scare Walk fiasco, Minhyuk is sitting on a table in the university library, his textbooks and a laptop open in front of him, when a finger taps his left shoulder. He pauses his music and looks up from his homework. 

 

Hyunwoo stares down at him with a small smile on his lips. 

 

He grins, pulling out one earbud. "Hey hyung! Long time no see. How's it going?" 

 

"All's fine. Mind if I sit here?" Hyunwoo points at the seat across the table. He nods. 

 

"Of course! Anything for the hyung who helped me a whole lot that time." 

 

Hyunwoo chuckles, seating himself on the chair. He clears his throat and asks, "That wasn't much. Just did what I can do, but... how are things? Is Taejoon okay?" 

 

Minhyuk slides his laptop away from him so nothing is blocking their faces. "Taejoon? Yeah, kind of. His cuts have healed, but otherwise, he's a-okay. He's still in shock, though," he replies easily. "He won't tell us what he saw or what happened, and he hasn't slept in his room for the past week, so..." 

 

Hyunwoo winces. "That's sad. I hope he'll be fine soon." He scratches the nape of his neck. 

 

"Yeah. He really likes you too, keeps on asking for Hyunwoo-hyung who protected him on the way," the other replies. An idea pops up into his head. "Do you want to go visit him with me?" 

 

His crush's eyes widen. "Oh? Uh, sure! I'd love to! If... If it's not bothering you at all." 

 

Minhyuk reassures him with another bright grin of his. "Of course not. It'd be nice to have someone to talk to when I babysit Minhyun and him together. You free this Saturday?" 

 

Hyunwoo pauses for a moment. "Yeah, I am. They're both nice kids, really. So it's a... a date?" 

 

The former frowns. What? 

 

His crush is quick to take back his words. Flustered, Hyunwoo raises his hands in the air, his mouth opening. "Or it's not. Got it. Not a date. I'm just there to help you babysit and meet Taejoon- it's fine, I liked him a lot and I like kids in general-" 

 

"Wait- yes."

 

"-they're cute... What?" 

 

"Yes it's a date," Minhyuk rushes out. His eyes are glinting in excitement, an infectious grin spreading across his face. "Let's call it a date." 

 

"A-ah... okay. That's... that's good too." Hyunwoo breathes out a sigh of relief, but not before grinning back at him with his trademark eye smile and a hint of pink rising up his cheeks. "A date with a pretty guy and kids... what a life," he adds under his breath. 

 

Minhyuk tilts his head. "I'm sorry?"

 

"Nothing."


End file.
